Signs Aim To Curb Begging

FORT LAUDERDALE — -- Good Samaritans who give their change to beggars at intersections and freeway off-ramps might soon be discouraged from doing so.

Amy Jones Hamilton, a Fort Lauderdale activist on homeless issues, is pitching a plan to the city and county commissions to post signs urging people not to give money to panhandlers.

Supporters of her plan say the money is better spent when it is given to social service agencies that help the homeless.

"The premise is what is most beneficial to homeless people is more comprehensive than just a dollar," said Laura Carey, executive director for the Broward Coalition for the Homeless, which endorsed Hamilton's proposal. "There are some people who believe that] when you give a dollar, it is enabling them to continue a self-destructive lifestyle."

The issue is one that police, social service agencies and government officials expect to confront more frequently with this month's closing of Tent City. Although the new Homeless Assistance Center has opened on Sunrise Boulevard, it has limited room and strict rules that have discouraged many homeless people from moving there.

Fort Lauderdale Commissioner Tim Smith said the closing of Tent City could bring more people onto the streets. As the debate over how to deal with people who refuse to seek shelter continues, he said he's anxious to start cleaning up the streets, using signs and other means.

Fearing that homeless people will sleep on lawns and loiter in residential areas, the City Commission this week gave the new center money to buy vans for social workers. The social workers will scour the streets for homeless people and offer them rides to the shelter.

As part of the same effort, city police have notified Love Thy Neighbor that next month they will begin enforcing a law that prohibits the group from providing free meals to people on the beach.

For years, the group has fed small numbers of homeless people on the beach once a week. The city outlawed the practice, but has not aggressively enforced the law. With the closing of Tent City, however, the group wants to establish a downtown site for feeding the homeless people who didn't move to the new shelter. City officials refused the proposal and said they will beef up law enforcement downtown.

Last week, Love Thy Neighbor paid $600 to bus homeless people to the beach and feed about 100 people. The group's leaders said they want to challenge the law prohibiting the meals. At least one taunted police to arrest him.

Signs discouraging panhandling are another tool, Smith said. "It's worked around the country in select spots," he said. "We should be doing it here. It's an excellent idea. It directs the resources where they can be of help."

Hamilton, the person pushing the signs, is the former chairwoman of the Neighborhood Advisory Committee for the Broward Partnership for the Homeless, which runs the new center on Sunrise Boulevard.

Hamilton said rather than giving spare change to panhandlers, people should give the money to the Salvation Army or other organizations that help the homeless.

But Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugle worries the signs could make the city look insensitive to the plight of the homeless. Although tourists may be put off by panhandlers, signs telling the public not to give money to the homeless could hurt the city's image even more, he said.

"It reminds me of something like `Don't feed the bears,'" he said.

When people give money to the homeless, they don't know how it's going to be used, said Fred Scarborough, lay pastor and member of the board of directors for the Broward Coalition for the Homeless. Sometimes beggars spend the money on alcohol or drugs, he said.

"It is proven it doesn't help get people from homelessness to independence," he said. "In almost every major metro area there are beds. Generally people seeking out those kind of things are not really seeking to get their life back together. We're enabling by giving them money] to continue with bad habits without any kind of accountability."

This is not the first community to look at discouraging or even outlawing panhandling. Tallahassee doesn't allow panhandling. Washington, D.C., has a law against "aggressive" panhandling. Palm Beach County has posted signs asking people not to give money to beggars.

"I believe I'm blessed not to be in that position and sharing my own resources with other folks is probably a good thing," said Mary Ann Gleason, spokeswoman for the National Coalition for the Homeless in Washington, D.C.

"I know some] people will misuse it, but none of us can make those judgments in a few-second encounter. We simply don't know. Maybe they're going to do exactly what they say they're going to do with it."

Hamilton's proposal has caught the attention of Broward County Commissioner Lori Parrish, who said she would look into the idea further before bringing it to the commission. The interim county attorney said in a memo to Parrish that the signs would be legal.

The city likes the idea, and the City Commission could consider it within a few months, said Bud Bentley, assistant city manager.